China holds combat drills at a disputed shoal west of the Philippines

BEIJING (AP) — China has held sea and air combat drills at disputed Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited area of reefs and rocks it had seized from the Philippines in the South China Sea. China on Sunday published new baselines for the shoal including geographic coordinates. A nation’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone are typically defined as the distance from the baselines. Tensions between China and the Philippines have been building over their competing claims to outcrops in the South China Sea. Clashes have occurred including the Chinese coast guard firing water cannons at Filipino ships.